Gulf States target Ghana for maidservants – Recruitment Agent

An Indonesian and Ethiopian ban on citizens travelling to work as maidservants in Middle-Eastern countries has forced those countries to shift their attention to young Ghanaian women seeking such opportunities.

According to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), over 2,000 Ghanaian women within a period of five months travelled to the Gulf States to seek greener pastures.

Most of the girls reportedly serving as maidservants, are abused while others are forced into prostitution.

The Director of a recruitment company – Dangaskiya Ventures Limited, Alhaji Saeed A. Mumin Shareef, in an interview on the Citi FM, said the development is not surprising.

He explained that Indonesia and Ethiopia, who were major suppliers of domestic servants have banned their girls from going to the Gulf States to work as domestic servants.

This, he said, “has made the agents turn their attention to other parts of Africa and they find the Ghanaians to be more civilized to take over that position.”

Alhaji Mumin Shareef acknowledged that the Gulf States are very fertile areas for employment due to the rapid development countries in the area going through.

He was, however, quick to add that although there are employment opportunities, they exist for professionals; a qualification most Ghanaian citizens leaving the country do not have.

“Our boys and girls who leave to these areas – unfortunately, most of them are not from the professional side. The professionals are gainfully employed and they have better opportunities and facilities because they go according to the proper channel of migration.”

Alhaji Sharif added that in the Gulf, domestic servants do not have a strong regulatory body which supervises their operations and protects their rights “and that leaves room for them to be abused.”

“The countries are doing the best, but the systems are not working very well, but as soon as a report is made that someone is being abused, they take the steps to rectify the problem,” he remarked.

The GIS is appealing to the general public and prospective travellers to be wary of promises of lucrative job opportunities in the Gulf States because it is unable to prevent people from departing Ghana, especially when they are adults and are in possession of the required travel documents.